


Don't Tell Anyone You Saw Me Cry

by neverlandsfirstlostgirl



Series: The Cloud and Sun [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, FemNaruto - Freeform, Friendship, Genderbend, Masks, Romance, Violence, female!Naruto, relationhip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 19:05:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3821467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neverlandsfirstlostgirl/pseuds/neverlandsfirstlostgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tumblr Prompt: Don't tell anyone you saw me cry. AU</p><p>Shikamaru was casually walking down the street after he ditched class. Until something caught his attention as he was walked passed an alleyway. What he witnesses will forever change the way he sees Naruto Uzumaki, but for her it will be as almost nothing was different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Tell Anyone You Saw Me Cry

Shikamaru was walking down the Main Street; he should be in school since it was early in the afternoon on a Wednesday. However, Chouji wasn't there, some clan thing, so he ditched class with Kiba and Naruto then they went their separate ways. The Nara was making his way to his cloud gazing spot, a hill whose pathway unfortunately ran through the middle of town, meaning he had to carefully avoid anybody who might inform his troublesome mother. He was walking by an alley when he heard a muffled sound. What was it, a yelp? A sob? His curiosity was peaked and it didn't allow him to just walk away. Damn his childish instincts.

He walked backwards were he could view the space between the two buildings clearly. In the middle there was a figure coated in dirt with orange patches of clothes, he could also see spots of blood. There was something blonde unevenly hanging off their shoulders. 'Hair', he concluded, with one side in a ponytail and the other hanging off her chin. Wait a second, blonde and orange, orange and blonde. His mind immediately found out the identity of the small battered figure as Naruto Uzumaki. But what was she doing in an alleyway all beat up? Didn't she say she was going home? Hold up, doesn't this particular path lead to the red light district? He only knew because his mom had forced him to bring his father home many times, but how would she know about such a place, Naruto doesn't live there, right?

Another muffled, sob? Yelp? Some strange combination of both? Pushed him out of his thoughts.  
Shikamaru couldn't stop himself when he stepped forward, "Naruto-chan?"

-Chan? Where did that come from? Never had Shikamaru ever seen Naruto as someone you could add the -chan suffix to. She acted way to much like a guy, but now seeing her covered in her own blood with her shoulders shaking from the overwhelming pain, he couldn't help but feel that she needed to be protected and that she was too small for her own good. Of course, she'd beat him five ways to Sunday if she heard his thoughts and he loves using all his limbs thank you very much, therefore he wisely decided to keep those thoughts to himself.

When Naruto started crying after the beating she received she didn't think anyone would find her, nobody ever did. At first, when she heard someone call out to her she almost, instinctively, started to play possum again. However, when her mind registered that she recognized the voice Naruto knew that she had to pull herself together. Even if the tear streams were clearly visible on her face. She stood up with a wince and tried her best not to disturb her injuries as she turned to face him.

With a smile that almost turned into a grimace of pain she said, "Hey! Who said you can call me 'Naruto-chan!' Just for that, for now on I'm calling you Shika!"

Her tone was eerily similar to the loud and boisterous one she often used, upon realizing this Shikamaru flinched. How can she look so damaged and still pull of being optimistic? Did this mean that she was often faking? No child should be that good of an actor. While the shadow boy was drowned in these thoughts the silence and thoughtful look was making Naruto nervous. She made a move to play with her left ponytail, a nervous habit of hers that Shikamaru filed away for future references.

Naruto puffed her cheeks when she noticed that there was no hair by her collar to twirl, "Maa I kept my hair long because Jiji and Iruka-sensei said it looked nice! But I guess if I'm going to be a kunoichi I have to keep it short until I'm awesome enough to keep it long without it getting in my way! Well I'm going to go fix my hair now, I'll see you tomorrow Shika-kun!"

Shikamaru could read the underlying message, to not tell a soul what happened today because tomorrow she will be fine. It made him wonder if this happened often, and if so, did Hokage-sama and Iruka-sensei know about it? She seems to care about their opinion a lot if she grew her hair long becuse of them. He was far too distracted to stop her from leaving and she moved remarkably fast considering that she was injured. He supposed that he'd just have to try to ask her tomorrow before class starts, providing she actually answers him and if not he will just find out on his own. His mind will not rest properly until he knows the answers to his questions, it is the curse of the Nara Clan.

The next day at the Ninja Academy Naruto came to class twenty minutes late with a supremely short and spiky hairstyle. The hair made her resemble the Yondaime---the subject of today's lecture---and Shikamaru could see that most of his classmates had noticed it but dismissed it immediately, not wanting to connect the village pariah to their beloved hero. Now that Shikamaru thought about it more, every Hokage has had a wife, even Tobirama Senju had one. It is up to the wife entirely if she wants to be known publicly or not. The only one whose name was actually put in the textbooks was Biwako Sarutobi, since she was a well-known medic-nin who had taught Tsunade of the Sannin her first medical jutsus and had died during the Nine-Tail's attack. It is highly possible that the Yondaime had a wife that very few knew about, maybe even a child. Seeing that Naruto resembled the Yondaime too much for comfort she could be his child. Her mom could have died during the attack or childbirth, and since the Yondaime died too she was orphaned and was probably given a different name to protect her because the Fourth had a lot of enemies. But since she looks so much like the Fourth surely other people would have noticed and started to connect the dots, they would treat her like royalty not like something to be scorned. So what was it about Naruto that made the majority of the village hate her?

"Maa, sorry for being late Iruka-sensei but I went to go see Jiji today since I didn't go yesterday and then he took me to fix my hair cut since the way I had cut it looked weird," Naruto apologized.  
Naruto raised her hand to her collar to pull on her ponytail again, only realizing too late that there was no hair to pull.

Iruka looked bewildered for a second and Shikamaru could see that something clicked in his mind the caused him to fist his hands but smile gently at Naruto, "Since you were with the Hokage I'll let this one slide, your hair looks great Naruto-chan."

Naruto's eyes sparkled, "Thanks Iruka-sensei!"

Shikamaru filed away the information that both the Hokage and Iruka knew about Naruto's situation, maybe he could talk to them about it. Once Naruto made her way to her seat Kiba said:

"Ne, Naruto why'd you cut your hair? You look like a dude."

Naruto glared at him and then smiled, "Because a kunoichi never has her hair long until she is awesome enough to make sure it doesn't get in her way! Right Shika-kun?"

They all stared at Shikamaru, a bit baffled about the new nickname. Shikamaru just sighed, she obviously did not want to talk about it. He'd have to go talk to Iruka-sensei and Hokage-sama personally now. 'How much did I miss?' Chouji thought.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru drawled.

'Well not much, apparently,' Chouji thought as he slightly chuckled.


End file.
